U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan has been silent for weeks on President Trump’s controversial plan to spend public funds on a White House ballroom and his nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund, to help people Trump deems victims of political prosecutions.
Sullivan took a position Thursday. He voted to block those Trump priorities, supporting Democratic amendments. They failed, but for a senator running for reelection with Trump’s endorsement, Sullivan’s decision to declare an objection to things the president wants is noteworthy.
The Alaska senator was among just three Republicans to vote for an amendment by Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to forbid the Justice Department from creating the compensation fund.
Then Sullivan and five other Republicans voted to bar construction of the White House ballroom, using public or private dollars, unless Congress grants specific authorization for it.
Sullivan did not respond to an interview request but his office issued a statement about Trump’s proposal to put $1.776 billion into what critics call a “slush fund.”
“After learning more about the anti-weaponization fund, Senator Sullivan concluded that he did not support the fund. Senator Sullivan’s votes reflect that,” the statement reads. “Further, the (acting) Attorney General of the United States also testified recently that the fund was dead.”
The Trump administration is sending mixed messages on the fund. Trump on Wednesday called the fund “a beautiful thing” and said he wasn’t sure if the idea was dead or on hold.
Sullivan’s Democratic challenger, Mary Peltola, also declined an interview request but her campaign issued a statement accusing Sullivan of taking “politically expedient votes on legislation that won’t pass.”
None of the amendments was expected to pass. They were part of what’s known semi-officially as a "vote-arama." These marathon sessions offer the minority party — Democrats now — the rare opportunity to file a stream of amendments and bring them all to the Senate floor. Vote-aramas are generally used to make incumbents take uncomfortable votes that sometimes come back to haunt them in their next election.
For Sullivan, that’s this year.
When members of the majority party cross the aisle to vote for amendments in a vote-arama, it’s often those who are in tight races. The other two Republicans who joined Sullivan on the Schumer amendment are, according to the Cook Political Report, this November’s most endangered GOP senators: Susan Collins of Maine and Jon Husted of Ohio.
Cook rates Sullivan’s race as “leans Republican,” though his votes for Democratic amendments — and against the president he typically aligns with — suggest he might be feeling the heat, too.
